“You’re on your way, Ms. Malinowski. I’m teaching Fiction Writing for Beginners as an elective next fall. I hope to see you filling one of the seats.”
A burst of excitement rockets through me. Fiction writing is the next step to actually becoming an author—the very next step in fulfilling my dreams. “Oh, you will! In fact, I’ll have a few of my friends filling the seats right there with me. I can’t wait. I’m already psyched about it.”
“Psyched?” He frowns at the slightly clichéd frame of mind. “We’ll work on your descriptors.”
Joel threads his arm through mine, and we walk deeper into the grand ballroom.
“I Want Candy” blares over the speakers, and despite the fact there’s a huge buffet waiting for our hungry stomachs to attack, the dance floor is already brimming with bodies. I spot Kelly with her date, some college freshman from a school I’ve never heard of. He looks goofy—shaking his arms like a monkey while Kelly tries to push him off to the corner to alleviate her embarrassment.
“That’s exactly why you won’t see me up there,” Joel whispers into my ear from behind as he lands a kiss to my cheek.
“Oh, I’ll see you up there.” I spin into him. “With me.” I bat my lashes up at him.
“Every single slow dance. I’ll be there.” He lands another kiss, this time on my lips.
The song fades out as OMDs “Enola Gay” filters through the air.
“This song.” I lean into Joel as the memory of that day last summer wafts by as if it were yesterday.
“What about this song?”
“It’s nothing—it’s just”—I shrug—“it’s something I was listening to the morning that you—you know, we met in the parking lot.” I pull up my dress to the knee and dangle my leg before him.
“That’s one way to say it.” He pulls me in—his eyes bleed out an apology before his mouth has the chance. “Sorry.”
“My brother says Enola Gay is the name of some B-29 bomber. Odd, huh? I’m a lyrics girl, so I’ve always wondered about this song.”
“It’s about the bombing of Hiroshima. The plane used was a B-29 bomber. Little Boy was the codename for the atomic bomb.” He winces. “Still a lyrics girl?”
My hands circle around his waist. “Yes. And social commentary through music? I think my next essay should revolve around that very topic. Plus, you can do the research with me. We’ll sway our way through it.” I press my hips to his, and we rock for a moment. “How did you know all that?”
“This chick I met last summer got me listening to new wave. I’m sort of a lyrics guy myself.”
“Very funny.” I pinch his ribs. “And I’m glad to see I’m rubbing off on you.”
“All right.” Jen breaks us apart with the karate chop of her arm. “Rubbing each other off doesn’t happen until later. Right now it’s time to hit the dance floor.” She pulls me into the thicket of bodies with the rest of the gyrating crowd.
We dance the night away, literally. Jen and I dance with Heather—who showed up with her on-again off-again senior crush Slam, Amy, and even Peter joins us for some of the faster songs. And once “Rock Lobster” blares over the speakers, we lose it because, well, that’s what we’ve been doing for years—losing it to what has slowly morphed into our favorite dance floor anthem.
If I could encapsulate one moment inside a snow globe to pull down from the shelf once in a while and shake back to reality, it would be this one. This occasion right here is the pinnacle to a year that started out with a bang—or a crash as it were—and ends with the apex of celebration with everyone I care about—at least at Glen Heights.
Everything is changing. Peter leaves for NYU in just a few weeks. Amy doesn’t know what she’ll do without him. Frankie is headed to Berkley on a football scholarship. Stacey, Michelle, and Kelly are going to Arizona State together. They’re trying out for cheer. It looks like the Beaver Brigade will live to flash their kick pants another day. Joel is the only one who hasn’t heard back yet, or at least that I know of.
The DJ taps the microphone. “This next one goes out to Mel.”
“Is that me?” I mouth the words over to Joel who’s standing at the edge of the dance floor with Frankie. Joel nods as he unleashes that dimpled grin while making his way over.
“It’s you.” He pulls me in as Ozzy Osbourne belts out “You’re No Different.” “It’s always been you, Mel.” Joel brushes his lips over mine before we start in on a heart-stopping kiss that spans the length of that beautiful song.
After a wild time at the prom, Joel and I head upstairs to the room he’s rented—half of the rooms in the hotel have been rented out by the Glen Heights senior class of 1985—we stop off at three raging parties on the way to our own room—a party for two.
Joel picks me up and carries me over the threshold, and we have a wild night of our own.
* * *
At about six thirty in the morning, we drag ourselves out of bed, get dressed, and stagger down to the beach—the girls in our disheveled prom dresses, the guys in their wrinkled dress shirts with the sleeves rolled up, their dark matching trousers with not a tie or a cummerbund in sight. Amy, Jen, and I each told our mothers we were spending the night at Heather’s house—that’s pretty lousy, I know, but a little parental misinformation and senior prom seem to go hand in hand. I never said we were perfect. Sadly, Heather’s mom isn’t too concerned where her daughter ends up for the night, so there was no reason to indulge in any deceit on her part.
We collapse collectively onto the cool, brown-sugared sand to participate in yet another senior tradition at Glen Heights High, watching the sun rise together at Baker Beach.
Joel pulls me over to his lap and plucks a Snickers bar from his pocket. “Split it with me?”
“Yes! I’m starved!”
He opens it up and cracks it in half. “Watch your back. There are hoards of hungry seniors roaming the vicinity.”
“Mmm.” I moan through my first bite. “I love you.” I nod as the chocolaty goodness melts down my throat. “I mean it. I really love you.” Half of the other people on the beach are moaning as well, but mostly because they’re hung over. Joel and I were too busy drinking down each other to imbibe.
“I love you, too, Mel.” He cocks his head, drilling those laser blue eyes right at me. “I got my acceptance letters back.”
My stomach drops as I swallow down the bite in my mouth, suddenly bitter and lacking goodness of any kind.
“All of them?”
“All of them.” He nods, the smile fading from his lips.
“Oh, God, this is bad.” I do a quick search of the beach for Jen or Heather in the event I need someone to stop me from burying my head in the sand. “So, what’s it looking like?” Joel applied to six universities—only three of which were in California.
“Two schools offered football scholarships. One in Tennessee and one up north.”
My stomach drops again like we’re on some kind of a scholastic-inspired demonic roller coaster.
“Shit,” I whisper. “I mean, that’s great. So, where did you decide?” Hot tears sting my eyes, but I’m quick to blink them away. If he goes to Tennessee, we’ll be lucky if we see each other over the holidays. If he goes up north, well—it’s probably the same story. I’m so used to seeing his smiling face, those stratospheric blue eyes every single day. It’s going to be sheer hell not having him near me. He probably won’t even want anything to do with a high school girlfriend anymore. Of all the moments to tell me this news, I sincerely wish he didn’t pick this one.
“I didn’t choose either one.” He gives my ribs a soft pinch. “I got accepted into USC. I’m going there.”
“What!” I scream so loud I rouse half of the dead around me back to life. USC is practically in our backyard. “Joel!” I wrap my arms around him so tight I nearly knock us over. “What about football?”
“I was never committed to playing in college. That was my mom’s dream for me, not mine. I’m hanging up my cleats.
”
“I’m still your biggest cheerleader.” In a way I feel bad, responsible for the football-free decision, but ultimately it was Joel’s choice to make, not mine.
“I’ll be coming home on weekends—Friday nights—so that’s three days we’ll get to spend together, for sure. We can hang out, study—among other things.” He outlines my lips with his finger. “And I might even surprise you once in a while during the week. It’s just a twenty-minute shot down the freeway.”
“Oh my God! I’m so happy, I could kiss you.” And I do. I melt a hot one right over his lips. “You scared me.” My chest heaves with the residue of grief that was readying to pour from me.
“I’m sorry. I won’t do that again. Just keep up your grades and try to get in next year because it won’t be the same without you.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
A sporadic applause breaks out behind us as the sun bursts free from the horizon in a tangerine blaze of glory.
It’s a brand new day—the beginning of everything new for the seniors around us.
“Glen Heights!” someone shouts, and a bunch of catcalls go off as if we were cheering at a game—all of us, the San Ramos kids, the Glen Heights kids. After Joel and I started going around, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. The class divide seemed to dissolve once the most popular guy at Glen started dating a “lowly” girl from San Ramos like myself. That entire rich-kid-poor-kid thing always felt like a joke anyway. At the end of the day, Joel was right—we were just people who wanted the same things out of life. The Glen kids didn’t have to fear the San Ramos kids and vice versa. Who cares if there were a few rowdy punks from San Ramos? Who cares if a few Glen kids thought they were better than everyone else? You can find that in any group of people; none of us were special in that respect.
“What are you thinking?” he whispers into my ear.
“I’m thinking we should get our feet wet.”
Joel and I get up and bum-rush the shore, and soon an entire crowd of groggy bodies stagger like zombies close behind.
Joel scoops me up and lands a mouthwatering kiss right over my lips.
“How about we do this a lot this summer?”
“Come to the beach?”
He winces into a smile. “That, too.”
“I don’t need to be home until later this afternoon.” I bat my lashes up at him.
“We have the room for a few more hours.” He gives a dirty grin.
“How about after that I kick your ass on Atari?”
His dimples go off. “Challenge accepted.”
I dig my fingers into his ribs as he growls out a laugh. I plan on doing more of everything with Joel this summer and far beyond that as well.
Joel tosses me over his shoulder and runs down the beach while I scream and laugh into the wind.
And just like that, Joel and I continue our story.
A Note from the Author
*** Enjoy the MELT WITH YOU playlist over at Spotify!*** http://hyperurl.co/2r6s6p
Look for Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2) Russell and Heather’s story. And Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3) Jennifer’s story coming soon!
Thank you for reading Melt with You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1). If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review at your point of purchase. Thank you so very much in advance! Your effort is greatly appreciated.
Books by Addison Moore
Young Adult Romance
Melt With You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1)
Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2) Soon!
Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3) Soon!
Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)
Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)
Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)
Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)
Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)
Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)
Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)
Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 7.5)
Elysian (Celestra Series Book 8)
Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy 1)
Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)
Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)
Season of the Witch (A Celestra Companion)
Romance
3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses 1)
Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses 2)
Sugar Kisses (3:AM Kisses 3)
Whiskey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 4)
Rock Candy Kisses (3:AM Kisses 5)
Velvet Kisses (3:AM Kisses 6)
Wild Kisses (3:AM Kisses 7)
Burning Through Gravity (Burning Through Gravity 1)
A Thousand Starry Nights (Burning Through Gravity 2)
Fire in an Amber Sky (Burning Through Gravity 3)
Beautiful Oblivion (Beautiful Oblivion 1)
Beautiful Illusions (Beautiful Oblivion 2)
Beautiful Elixir (Beautiful Oblivion 3)
The Solitude of Passion
Someone to Love (Someone to Love 1)
Someone Like You (Someone to Love 2)
Someone For Me (Someone to Love 3)
Celestra Forever After (Celestra Forever After 1)
The Dragon and the Rose (Celestra Forever After 2)
The Serpentine Butterfly (Celestra Forever After 3) Soon!
Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella)
Acknowledgments
There are so many people to thank for this book, people who were there and brought this crazy ride to life. Thank you to the real Joel Effing Miller. You made all those big-haired crazy days worth it. This book really brought me back to the ’80s in an intimate way that I wasn’t expecting. It was a fun ride for me, and I hope it was for those of you who have read this book as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading Melt With You.
A hearty thank you to my street team, Addison’s Angels, and the Angels in Addison’s Reader Corner. Thank you for taking the time to share my work with others. You are truly a blessing to me. You really are angels, each one of you!
A huge thank you to Lisa Markson for taking the time to comb through the book. Your enthusiasm for the project spurred me on. I can’t thank you enough for that girl. Huge hugs to you!
A very special thanks to Heather Love King for offering much needed affirmation and totally awesome musical input. I really appreciated you taking the time to read through the manuscript. You’re one of the sweetest sisters I have!
Special thanks to Tabby Coots for using your beautiful eyes and finding things that nobody else could see! Seriously, you saved me. You are incredible, and I’m so very glad to call you friend.
To the great Kathryn Jacoby! You are a rock star. Thank you for taking the time to pour through the book. I appreciate the input, research, and your superpowers to see things that I can’t. You are amazing!
To the awesome Paige Maroney Smith! Oh my goodness, where to begin! A GIANT thank you for helping me research every element about this book. Sorry to have made you insane with it! And thank you for putting up with my crazy schedules and back-to-back projects. I can never thank you enough for making time for me. Thank you for making my books infinitely better. I appreciate all you do! You are so very awesome and sweet. I’m privileged to know you!
And last, but never least, thank you to Him who sits on the throne. Worthy is the Lamb! Glory and honor and power are yours. I owe you everything.
About the Author
Addison Moore is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who writes contemporary and paranormal romance. Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine. Previously she worked as a therapist on a locked psychiatric unit for nearly a decade. She resides on the West Coast with her husband, four wonderful children, and two dogs where she eats too much chocolate and stays up way too late. When she's not writing, she's reading.
Feel free to visit her at:
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Addison Moore, Melt With You
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